La Vida Costeña diga

Well today was a sad and happy day. It was truly sad to say goodbye to Elder Antezana he was such a great companion, we were happy to see that he is going to Tulcan, I showed him all my pictures of Tulcan and told him all about it and I know he is going to enjoy it alot out there. I found out that I am going to be training a new missionary fresh from the MTC this change. I will leave for Quito Wednesday afternoon, stay the night there and Thursday get a new missionary. I am excited to see what happens, I think training will be super fun. It makes me think of when I started my mission, and my dad in the mission Elder Morgan is now finishing and tomorrow he will be with his family, holy cow the time is going by super fast.

There weren't any major earthquakes this week which is nice, but there were a couple of small aftershocks. but nothing crazy. My companion and I had such a cool miracle yesterday in the chapel, we were a little bummed cuz we didn't have a single investigator in the chapel and then during the sacrament I was thinking of the Atonement and thinking of what I can do better to get Investigators to come and then our family, la famlia Iglesias walked into the chapel and came and sat by us and enjoyed their experience it was super cool!

Our Zone Leaders came on Saturday to do divisions with my companion and I and I went with Elder Higgins who has become a good friend. He finishes his mission right now as well and it was his last Saturday here in Ecuador and it was super awesome. I learned a ton from him. 

Last night my companion Elder Antezana and I had our last lesson together and I think it was probably the most powerful lesson that we have had together. We are teaching this young woman who is looking so hard for an answer and just hasn't gotten one and we taught her about the spirit and how we have gotten our testimonies and it was just an incredible lesson. I know the spirit is real and I know our testimonies are powerful. It is so important to always share our testimonies, when we testify we invite the spirit.

Well, I love you all so much. I love Ecuador. I am so amazed that my Heavenly Father put me here in the absolute best country in the world. I am in love with the mission and I just love everything to do with the mission and Ecuador. es lo mejor diga! I hope you all have a great week.

Love, Elder Roberts

 The district!

 Relief Society dance at the night of talent shows

 There are so many of these spiders here in our house

Getting ready for the baptism

A Crazy Week of More Earthquakes

Well Quininde is looking a lot different than when I came here, this week there were 2 pretty strong aftershocks from the big earthquake that hit Ecuador a month ago and it took a little bit of a toll on the city.

The first aftershock was Wednesday night at 3 in the morning. My companion and I were asleep and then I felt some heavy shaking and felt like I was getting thrown out of the bed and my companion is like vamos, We live on the second floor so we ran down the stairs and went to this basketball court outside of the house where the whole neighborhood went as well and we were just there feeling the earth shake and watching glass shatter in houses and watching houses move and it was so crazy and all of the light posts like exploded. I had to call the other missionaries in the district and they were all fine and I reported that to the zone and then we tried going to sleep, but I couldn't sleep for like 2 hours after that cuz I was so shocked at what happened.

Wednesday at about 11 during weekly planning my companion and I were just sitting there at our desks when our windows started shaking hardcore and I thought our house got hit by a train. I got thrown out of my seat and we hauled out of the house again to watch more windows break and roofs fall and stuff. A lot of the poor part of our sector had some houses flattened, the other elders who are here had a lot of their investigators get their houses pretty damaged. It has been crazy here and all of Wednesday everyone was super scared and everyone was crying in the streets and everyone thought it was the end of the world. In my whole life I have never experienced this type of a disaster or anything, it is weird seeing everyone in a crisis. Anyways, Wednesday after the quake  we followed the mission emergency plan and went to the chapel and after that we got the all clear sign to get back to work. It was actually a really good day to work because everyone felt a need to get closer to God and change their lives.

I also found out that the epicenters of the two earthquakes were here in my sector.

I think only one person died, but I know a couple people that got injured and a lot of people who dont have their houses in the best condition right now, so please keep the people of Ecuador in your prayers that we can get through these earthquakes 

We had an absolute miracle this week. My companion and I found this awesome new family, we actually met them last week as we were contacting in the rain in downtown Quninde. We learned that they live in a plantation of cacao and bananas about 20 minutes in bus from our house and then from there 30 minutes walking through the jungle, so we were able to find their house and they are just so awesome. they have understood the lessons really well and they even gave us some awesome food. I ate duck for the first time in my life and it was super delicious! 

I got to do another baptismal interview on Saturday and it was amazing. It is definitely one of my favorite things on the mission, and the Hermanas had a baptism this last Saturday and the girl that got baptized asked me to baptize her and that was a really special and spiritual opportunity for me. 

Love, Elder Roberts

My earthquake wound, I hit my arm against a wall as I ran down the stairs 

Just chillin by one of the rivers 

Bautismo!

chillin in a palm tree forest

 chillin more in a palm tree forest

Su Gracia es suficiente

Well, this week was infinitely better than this last week. I am feeling a lot better physically and we were able to work super hard and see a ton of miracles.  I had so many special experiences this week and I want to thank all of you for your prayers that definitely helped me during a physically hard time.

On Wednesday we went to Esmeraldas where I had my last interview with President Richardson.  It was a great interview and he gave me a lot of great counsel. It is going to be sad seeing him go as he is completing his 3 years here. I am infinitely grateful for all the help he has given me here on the mission. I will be eternally grateful for him and his wife. 

This week I did my first baptismal interview. I did it on Saturday and Saturday was honestly a terrible day. We had a ton of super well planned visits, but all of them fell through and we were left with only contacting. So we contacted the whole day and literally found nobody. We were being diligent and talking with as many people as we could, but nobody wanted to listen to us. It was terrible, so we got to the chapel in the evening to do the interview and I wasn't in the best mood. I was pretty frustrated, so I decided to try to change my attitude and I went into a room and prayed and read some Doctrine and Covenants and I felt a lot better. I felt the spirit comfort me and I felt my mood change and I was ready for the interview. I interviewed a little 12 year old girl and the interview was just the greatest thing ever. She had such a special spirit and she is so excited to get baptized. I really felt the spirit guide me and it was an experience I will never forget. I hope I will be able to do more interviews. It is amazing how strong the spirit is.

After the interview we had a ward activity, and it was super great. We watched a 20 minute movie of the restoration and we had a ton of investigators, recent converts, and less actives there and it was perfect. Then we played some games! Afterwords, the member of the bishopric who was in charge asked one of our new investigators to say the prayer, and I was super nervous thinking why did he call on her, she hasn't even been to church yet, but she said the prayer really well and she came to church the next day and she is progressing. 

Saturday while we were contacting and everything was falling apart we had a miracle. We have this super cool investigator named Anderson who is 17 years old and he has every desire in the world to be a missionary.  Anyways we wanted to visit him on Saturday in Quninde because he lives like an hour away from the city and he told us to call him Saturday morning to plan a time, so we tried calling him in the morning but he didn't answer, then his dad answered cuz it is really his dads phone and his dad was working in the plantation far away, anyways we couldn't schedule a visit with Anderson and we were sad, but we did everything we could to visit him and that was enough. As we were walking around looking for new people, Anderson found us and we got to sit down with him on a bench in a park for 40 minutes and just talk about where he was at and where he wants to go. It was so great, we did everything we could, we were being diligent and the Lord did his part.

I testify that the Lord's Grace carries us when we can't carry ourselves. I know it is by Grace we are saved after all that we can do. I know Grace is real because I know God is real and he loves us and always wants to help us.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Here is the only picture I took this week, we have had 2 lizards running around our house since I have been here and this week they had babies so now we have a family of lizards in our house and they are super hard to catch, but we were finally able to catch one. haha

Elder Roberts

Title= EXTRAÑO A MI MAMI

Yeah, so yesterday was the first mothers day in my life where I didn't even get to talk to my mother.  I need to let her know that I love her dearly and miss her and am excited to talk to her today!

My mom is the best, she is the most Christlike person that I know, She is the definition of the word charity,. She is soo awesome and has been an absolute ANGEL in my life. I never realized how hard it would be to be so far away from her and the rest of my family, but I know I am where the Lord needs me right now and that the Lord will protect and take care of my family while I am away and he has done that so far. I know God keeps with his promises, but all of those that are reading this that see my mom on a regular basis need to give her a suuuppppeeerrr big hug from me. 

So this week I got super sick. I have gotten sick way to many times on my mission.  I have had parasites, infections, and everything, but this week was easily the worst. So Tuesday my companion and I went to Quito to get my companions last vaccination of rabies, because he got bit by a dog a while ago and we wanted to get back to Quninde as fast as possible, so we didn't stop for lunch we just got some sketchy food at the bus station and I think that is what made me sick. Wednesday in the middle of the day I started feeling sick and I started throwing up and I called the nurse and she told me to rest. After a ton of throwing up, and diarrhea, I started having a fever. Thursday I went to the local doctor who told me I had an infection in my intestines that was super strong and he gave me some meds and I took them but I kept on throwing everything up. I got super dehydrated.   Here in the coast it is SUPER HOT. and it is so important to stay hydrated, but I was throwing up everything that I tried to drink and I started feeling dizzy.

I decided to take a cold shower and for the first time in my life I fainted. Fortunately I fell through the shower curtain which helped slow down my fall, I didn't get any bruises or anything, but I hurt my bad leg pretty bad. Anyways, my companion helped me wake up and get dressed and stuff and then I called the nurse and I went to a local clinic here in Quininde and they were like yeah you are severely dehydrated, so they gave me an i.v. with some water and I went back home but that night I kept on throwing up and throwing up, so I called the nurse and she was like you need to come to Quito and I was like, but I am just going to throw up all over the bus and it is a horrible bus ride, she is like it doesn't matter you need to come. so we left, best decision ever.

My companion gave me a beautiful priesthood blessing before the bus ride and that definitely helped, even though I was miserable I didn't throw up on the bus and we made it to the hospital where I walked in like super super dizzy and they sat me down and took great care of me. I found out that being super dehydrated had affected my kidneys more than anything so the hospital got me super hydrated. Being so dehydrated made it so my kidneys didn't have the necessary water to produce their chemicals and stuff and the doctors were super concerned about my kidneys which is why I had to spend so much time in the hospital.  They said if I even had come a couple hours or a day later the consequences would have been a lot different on my kidneys. I KNOW the Lord takes care of us when we turn to him, he definitely protected me in a hard time and kept me from danger.

So that is my life. ok have a great week. I love you all.

Elder Roberts

 Just chillin in the E.R. like a boss

Scripture power, is the power to win!

Taking those nightly calls like a boss! 

QUININDE ES LA MAMA

I apologize if the spelling is bad, this keyboard is really bad and I am having a hard time to get the letter e to show up.  Anyways, Quninde is super awesome, I am really loving it and really enjoying my time here, but holy cow I am never going to get used to the heat or humidity.

Last Monday I took a road trip to Quito with Elder Purtil and Elder Day from my zone, it was super awesome, we got a Dominos pizza and we spent the night with a ton of missionaries that I hadn't seen for a long time from the different parts of the mission. Tuesday we had a reunion for all the district and zone leaders with President Richardson and it was super awesome. I learned a ton and I saw  a TON of my friends, including my first companion Elder Morgan. We were wearing the same tie without planning it which was funny. He finishes his mission this change. After the meeting Sister Richardson was waiting for all of us outside the chapel with a ton of boxes of Papa Johns Pizza. It was the best, just sitting there with Elder Morgan remembering old times.

This week my companion and I found out something very important. This happened Wednesday night, we had finished our planning for Thursday and we were just laying in our beds talking and He asked me what I miss about my house and I told him that I played the violin, even though I really played viola nobody down here knows what a viola is, so I just tell people that I play violin so thy understand. Anyways, my companion was like, oh yeah I played an instrument similar to the violin, its called the viola, and I as like WHAT THE HECK. MY COMPANION FROM LA PAZ BOLIVIA PLAYS THE VIOLA. So we got that viola swag going on down here.

Elder Antezana is super awesome, we are just continuing to work super hard, literally just talking with everyone in our path. Not any super crazy stories to tell,  but I know this church is true. I have received spiritual witness in my life many times that have reassured m that th same church that Jesus Christ established in his life has been restored and that God loves us and has prepared many blessings for us. I love you ll and pray that you have a good week.

And Mom and Family, I AM SO EXCITED TO SEE YOUR FACES ON SUNDAY. YAYYYYYYYY

Love you all, Elder Roberts

Drinking from Orange coconuts

 The baptism of Cesar

 My companion is dying from mosquitos

Dean Larson is famous

PICTURES FROM MY OLD AREA

 Everytime you send me a letter or box, it goes to this building

 This is the face I make when it looks like it is going to rain

 Just enjoying that volcano sunset

 The volcano cotacachi

 We found a super green part of our sector in Otavalo where there is a waterfall

 An old Otavalanian lady making tostado

With the tia of la familia cordova tituaña